A holiday birthday

(Please suspend your disbelief, ignore all of the pink and red reminders that Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and pretend that this post was published on December 24, 2009. It's Christmas Eve and my assistant is on my naughty list for falling a month and a half behind on blog posts!)

Kids with birthdays so close to Christmas find that it sure is hard to compete. With all the shimmering tinsel, glistening lights, and sizeable holiday to-do lists, it's easy for folks to lose sight of birthdays in the 20-somethings of December -- and terribly disappointing for those who grew up with post-holiday "I'm sorry this is so late..Happy Belated Birthday!" greetings and a single HappyBirthdayMerryChristmas present when all the other kids got two.

Take Victor, for instance, whose birthday is on December 23. That's the eve of Christmas Eve, mind you. With so much going on, it's easy to let a birthday slip by, especially if you're frantically rustling through ransacked shelves searching for items that suck the least amongst all the leftovers. (Last-last-last-minute shoppers, you know who you are...)

Anyhow, my assistant and I weren't going to let Vic's birthday go by unnoticed -- and neither were his friends! What better surprise to give to the birthday boy than a triple layer cake featuring his favorite dessert flavor combination: chocolate and raspberry?
That's right folks, my Triple Layer Raspberry Chocolate Decadence features smooth, luscious chocolate paired with the sweet, delectably tart little raspberry in three layers of rich chocolate cake filled with raspberry jam and generously frosted with milk chocolate mousse frosting. Lace the sides with crunchy chocolate cookie crumbs, top it all off with fresh raspberries, and you've got yourself a cake fit for a king.
Or at least a very special birthday boy.

Happy birthday, Vic! Hope you enjoyed the cake as much as we enjoyed crafting it.

And happy holidays, everyone!